THE CARNIVORA. 351 



coronoid process, and the long axis of the articular surface 

 wliich receives the head of the mandible is transverse. 



The hyoid has a small body and many-jointed anterior 

 cornua. 



Both pairs of limbs are fully developed, and the tail is not 

 provided with a horizontal fin. Clavicles may be absent, and, 

 when ossified, they do not occupy more than half the interval 

 lietween the acromion and the sternum. The scapula has a 

 distinct spine, and a large supra-spinous fossa. 



Neither the hallux nor the pollex is opposable. The car- 

 pal and tarsal bones have the ordinary number and arrange- 

 ment ; except that, in the carpus, the scaphoid and lunare are 

 united into one bone. The terminal phalanges of the digits, 

 which never fall below four in number, are almost always 

 provided with sharp and pointed claws. 



The teeth are always distinguishable into incisors, canines, 

 and molars ; they are lodged in distinct sockets, and their 

 crowns are covered with enamel. There are aKvays two sets 

 of teeth, a milk and a permanent dentition. As a very general 

 rule, there are six incisors above and an equal number below. 

 The canines are long, curved, and pointed. 



The stomach is simple and undivided, and the cfficum, 

 which is never large, may be altogether absent. 



The liver is deeply subdivided, and there is a gall-bladder. 



In the brain, the cerebellum is never completely covered by 

 the cerebral hemispheres, which are connected by a large 

 corpus callosum, and, except in the aquatic forms, by a well- 

 developed anterior commissure. On the exterior of each 

 hemisphere, there are usually three distinct convolutions sur- 

 rounding the Sylvian fissure. But, in the aquatic Carnivora, 

 the gyri are much more numerous and complicated ; the cere- 

 bral hemispheres are much broader and longer in proportion 

 to the length of the brain ; and they may even exhibit a rudi- 

 ment of the posterior cornu. In all these respects they ap- 

 proach the Cetacea. 



The inferior tiu-binal bones are always large and have a 

 complicated form. 



There are no vesiculse seminales, and an os perns is very 

 generally present. The ovary is enclosed in a peritoneal s?c. 



The Carnivora are divisible into the IHnnipedia, or aquatic 

 Carnivores ; and the Ftssipedia, which are mainly terrestrial 

 and cursorial. 



a. In the Flssipedia the incisors are, with one exception 



(Mhhydris. the Sea-otter, with i. \^^, six in number in each jaw- 



